1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electric connectors and more particularly, to an electric connector, which has vertically spaced insertion slots for the insertion of external electric connectors into respective connector receiving chambers to contact respective metal terminals for wired signal transmission, and a Bluetooth device mounted in an accommodation space at the top side of the connector receiving chambers for receiving an external wireless signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Following the step of technology era, many consumer electric and electronic products and home electric appliances are computerized. When using a computerized product, a user may need to input signals for startup, shutoff, setting control. For example, when operating an old design of TV, stereo system, video recorder/player, MOD (multimedia on demand) device, multimedia player, air-conditioner, intelligent refrigerator, computer, mobile telephone, notebook computer or any of a variety of other electric devices, a user need to click the buttons on the housing or an extension operating bar of the electric device directly. However, advanced electric devices commonly provide a remote control function. By means of RF (radio frequency), infrared or Bluetooth transmission technology, a user can control the operation of an electric device at a remote site.
Further, many electric connectors, such as USB connectors, SATA connectors, eSATA connectors, RJ connectors, Mini USB connectors are created and intensively used for the connection of peripheral apparatus to a master unit. For example, different electric connectors may be used for the connection of video recorder/player, MOD device, speakers, stereo system, computer and/or digital camera to a digital TV, or for the connection of keyboard, mouse, printer, TV signal receiver and/or modem to a computer. By means of connectors, multiple slave devices can be connected to a master device for transmitting data signal or storing data.
Further, signal transmission through electric/electronic devices can be done by means of wired or wireless techniques. Either providing a wired transmission function or wireless transmission function, linking of electric connectors allows two-way signal transmission between two parties. Therefore, electric/electronic devices generally have a number of electric connectors and/or a wireless transmitter and receiver module for communication with external electric/electronic devices. However, in actual practice, conventional designs still have drawbacks as follows:
1. Installation of electric connectors and/or signal transmission devices in the internal circuit board of an electric/electronic device occupies much circuit board space, interfering with circuit layout of the circuit board.
2. For enabling an electric/electronic device to receive an external wireless signal, an attached antenna or attached signal transducer means is necessary. The installation of such an attached antenna or attached signal transducer means requires much installation space. Further, when an attached antenna or attached signal transducer means is used, the internal circuit board of the electric/electronic device must have a signal adapter means to convert external wireless signal into a specific format for reading or storage. The installation of such a signal adapter means requires an extra circuit board space.
Accordingly, there is a need for an electric connector that provides wired and wireless signal transmission functions and, that has the characteristic of small size.